Justen Leroy (b. 1994) is a multidisciplinary artist and curator based in Los Angeles whose work explores the intersections of Black sound, geology and climate catastrophe through music, film, and performance.

Leroy’s three-channel video installation Lay Me Down in Praise(2022) was first presented at the California African American Museum and has subsequently been acquired into the permanent collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art. The work was also chosen to represent the United States’ participation in the 2024 Dak'Art Biennale, one of Africa’s leading international contemporary art exhibitions, held in Senegal.

In 2023, Leroy premiered X’ene’s Witness at the Marciano Art Foundation in Los Angeles, a genre-blending opera combining classical and electronic music, along with choreography to provoke dialogue around race and climate change. His work was also featured in the Hammer Museum’s Made in L.A. 2020 biennial.

Beyond his artistic practice, Leroy has contributed extensively as a curator and cultural organizer. In 2022, he co-curated Noah Davis at the Underground Museum, where he previously held multiple roles over a six-year period. In 2025, Leroy launched Soundsystem, an independent sound research initiative that has hosted performances and workshops by artists including Esperanza Spalding, Samara Joy, Jason Moran, and Arthur Jafa, among others. HE’S SERVED AS DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROGRAMS AT MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, LOS ANGELES (MOCA) AND IS CURRENTLY DIRECTOR OF CURATORIAL AFFAIRS AND PROGRAMS AT MARK BRADFORD’S ART + PRACTICE.

Most recently, he curated The Sound of Gordon Parks, the first museum exhibition dedicated to Gordon Parks’s previously unheard musical compositions, developed in partnership with The Gordon Parks Foundation and the California African American Museum.

Crosscurrents: Works from the Contemporary Collection

BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART

FEB 2025 - DEC 2026

WORLD OF ECHO: JULIUS EASTMAN AND ARTHUR RUSSELL

REDCAT / CALARTS

MAR 2025 - MAY 2025

2024 DAKAR BIENNALE: THE WAKE

NOV 2024 - DEC 2024

X’ENE’S WITNESS

LAND / MARCIANO ART FOUNDATION

NOV 2023

YOBWOC: HELMUT LANG X ANTWAUN SARGENT

HANNAH TRAORE GALLERY

FEB 2023

Lay me down in praise

CALIFORNIA AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM / ART + PRACTICE

SEPT 2022 - FEB 2023

MADE IN LA 2020 : A VERSION

HAMMER MUSEUM

APRIL 2021 - AUGUST 2021

THE SOUND OF GORDON PARKS

CALIFORNIA AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM

APRIL 2026 - SEPT 2026

SOUNDSYSTEM

ONGOING

MOCA: QUANTUM LISTENING

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

AUG 2023 - FEB 2026

NOAH DAVIS

THE UNDERGROUND MUSEUM

JAN 2022 - APRIL 2022

LOS ANGELES TIMES:
What does the earth sound like? Artist Justen LeRoy’s L.A. exhibit offers an answer

ARTFORUM: ‘LAY ME DOWN IN PRAISE’ CRITIC’S PICK

ESSENCE MAGAZINE: Artist Justen LeRoy Creates Conversations Through Sound With ‘X’ene’s Witness’

NEW YORK TIMES : In Baltimore, Confronting Chaos Through Contemporary Art

OFFICE MAGAZINE: X'ene's Witness: Justen LeRoy's Black Environmentalist Sonic Vision

Just Smile Magazine X Burberry: Curator and artist Justen LeRoy is making space for conversation and sound

W magazine: Antwaun Sargent & Helmut Lang Reconsider the Cowboy